| Original caption: “Keep’em Rolling – PT Boats.” The United States Office of War Information employed a large staff of book and magazine designers during World War II to design cautionary and patriotic posters, survival manuals, news magazines for overseas distribution, and hundreds of other pieces of wartime propaganda. Young American Modernists had a unique opportunity to prove the viability of the new design, specifically as contrasted to the Heroic Realism of other countries’ graphics. American advertising agency N. W. Ayer and Son’s Art Director, Leo Lionni (May 5, 1910 – October 11, 1999), created a series of dynamic posters intended to motivate defense plant workers. The PT-20 Class of Motor Torpedo Boat was the 1st of Elco’s mass-produced designs. 77 feet (23.4 meters) long, 20 feet (6 meters) wide, and with a draught of 5 1/2 feet (1 1/2 meters), these boats carried 2 torpedo tubes with a single reload; and 2 glass turrets with 52 caliber M2 Browning machine guns each. PT-20 Class boats could maintain an average speed of 39.72 kn (73.56 km/h; 45.71 mph) in speed tests. Commissioned in the United States Navy in June 1941, they were placed out of front-line service in late 1942. Tests of the PT-20 class were conducted with other PT Boat types on July 21-24, 1941. The Higgins 76’ (PT-70) and boats of the Elco 77’ (PT-20 Class) developed structural failures even under moderate prevailing weather conditions. During the interval between the 1st and 2nd test periods, the PT-70 was repaired, and an effort was made to identify and eliminate the causes of the structural failures. However, during the 2nd endurance run, which was made in a very rough sea for this size boat, structural failures again occurred in PT-70. PT-69 and PT-21 experienced structural failures during the 2nd run, although these were much more localized compared to those found on PT-70. “The Board is of the opinion that certain changes in design are required to enable PT-69 and boats of the PT-20 Class to carry safely their military loads in rough weather.” Married to an Italian Communist, Lionni left Fascist Italy for the United States in 1939. He went on to become a successful children’s book author after World War II. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2421.jpg |
| Image Size | 799.46 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1500 x 2016 |
| Photographer | Leo Lionni |
| Photographer Title | Office of Emergency Management |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1941 |
| Location | |
| City | Washington |
| State or Province | District of Columbia |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | University of North Texas Digital Library |
| Record Number | Posters WW2 Lionni 1 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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